PHR in the News

In the first of a new series on academics who conduct research in extreme circumstances, Gillian Fowler recalls the six years she spent working as a forensic anthropologist exhuming mass graves in Guatemala. Fowler also mentions her consulting work for PHR in Kabul, Afghanistan, training a team of Afghans to carry out mass grave investigations.

A coalition of human rights, religious, civil liberties and immigration rights groups, including Physicians for Human Rights, voiced their opposition to Amendment 3018 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in a letter sent today to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California).

The PSVI external Steering Board was established to advise the Foreign Secretary as the UK continues its campaign for new international action against sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict situations. The Board is made up of representatives from several national and international organizations, including Physicians for Human Rights.

On 21 November, 23 health professionals in Bahrain were sentenced to three months in prison on charges of illegally gathering during Arab spring protests in 2011. Five others were acquitted. Richard Sollom, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights said: "We are disappointed, though not surprised, that the Bahraini regime once again has decided to punish health professionals merely for expressing their right to peaceful assembly.

PHR’s close ally Dr. Denis Mukwege recently survived a near-fatal attack at his home in Eastern Congo in the lead-up to the extraordinary violence that has engulfed the region. Dr. Mukwege is renowned for his work treating victims of sexual violence. PHR’s Susannah Sirkin told The Lancet, “The biggest impact is Mukwege's voice and any attempt to silence his voice is harmful to past and future victims.” PHR is now calling on the Congolese government to fully investigate the attack.